Robin Uthappa and Eoin Morgan did not mince their words as they criticised Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for not making enough buys in the first session of the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction. RCB just made one purchase in the Marquee Sets as they acquired the services of England all-rounder Liam Livingstone for the next three years. Livingstone was bought by the Bengaluru-based franchise for INR 8.75 crore. RCB did enter the bidding war for the likes of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Mitchell Starc and David Miller, but the franchise pulled out midway.

Shockingly, the franchise opted to not exercise their right-to-match card for Mohammed Siraj, who eventually went to Gujarat Titans for INR 12.25 crore.

Speaking on JioCinema, Uthappa said that he feels sad for RCB fans as he cannot understand the mindset of not going heavily after players, despite having the second-biggest purse, heading into the auction.

"I'm a local boy, I am confused. You've not made more than one pick in the first two marquee sets. When you're trying to rebuild a side, when you're trying to figure out in which direction you're going to go, you have the fans backing you year in, year out. They put their emotions, their hearts on the line. They turn up then and to support the side. And then I'm certain when we go through the tweets that are coming through and you see that they feel so let down. And I as a fan of RCB and as a former player of RCB, I feel like they've missed the trick here," Uthappa said.

"And you just wonder, where are they heading? And because they haven't gone after Mitchell Starc, which they should have, because you want a solid bowler there. They haven't gone after KL Rahul. And they haven't gone after either Rishabh Pant or Shreyas Iyer. And okay, Shreyas Iyer you do want. You want to go for Rishabh Pant who's a two-skilled player. You back them to the hill. You've got that purse. You can go to 23 crores for one of those players. They didn't even go that far. I'm just feeling bad for the fans because they've just backed this side so much. And I feel let down for them. The fans are actually saying that, Robbie, if you take a look at it," he added.

Eoin Morgan echoes Uthappa's sentiments

Former England captain Eoin Morgan also echoed Uthappa's comments, saying that RCB not going after Marquee Players doesn't make sense, but he expressed hope in possibly seeing the franchise go after other players later in the auction.

"What Robbie has talked about, I totally agree. You can afford to do both. You can afford to splurge early, but also then keep your powder dry for later on. And youlook at how they set up their leadership group, their decision makers, you've got Andy Flower, Mo Bobat. So there's a huge amount of analytics that each and every team has. Every franchise has all the data, all the numbers. But ultimately, it's about who asks the right questions and gets the best value out of the players available. That is the challenge for each and every team," said Morgan.

"And I'm getting the impression that RCB seem to find value elsewhere. I can't wait to see where it is. Possibly, it was mentioned earlier by Hess, possibly Ishan Kishan. But again, even still, you can punch with both hands. You could have easily gone for KL, particularly at that price. The price astonishes me. You said you go to 22 crores, Robbie. You're still left with 50 crores, even if you go to 22 crores. So I can't see where their aces lie, really, in the first day or so of the auction," said Morgan.

"So it's going to be fascinating to see how it unfolds," he added.

Read Also: Full list of sold and unsold players in IPL Auction 2025: Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer costliest; Arshdeep, Chahal in PBKS

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